In Iron Rent

The White Lodge

All that remains of this cabal are two doddering old men, Szurkulet and Talpfa. Talpfa is remembered as being rakish and dashing in his youth, but little has been seen or heard from him in the Gemeinderat in more than a decade. His only point of contact with the Gemeinderat is through Szurkulet, who holds a councilorship in the Gemeinderat, due less to his political acumen than to the deep contempt for his fellow candidates, who were strident supporters of the National Socialists.

The founders of the White Lodge were Freemasons who found each other after their Awakenings, and formed a cabal around mason trappings. It was not long before their studies drew their membership away from engaging the outside world, and despite their status as the oldest unbroken cabal in the Gemeinderat, they never wielded much influence.

Szurkulet is a diminutive man, who wears dark and somber clothing that makes him look like a banker in mourning. Despite the bleakness of his appearance, and the strange stains in his beard, he loves to smile, and does so at every opportunity. Some have said he enjoys smiling more than he does understanding what people are saying, and tends to nod and smile as though he were a very polite foreigner with no knowledge of the language being spoken to him.